To really dread weekends?

[frillonit]

Is this normal lol

two little kids (2 and 5) never know what to do with them or how to fill the time. Everywhere is busy and expensive. But if you stay home it’s awful.

Those younger years really are the best when you look back with older kids (the difficult days do fade from your memory). We put so much pressure on ourselves and you realise even a trip into your local town/park is a big thing for a young child.

I used to love going to the park then coming back to watch Peppa pig under a duvet on the sofa, probably mainly for a 20 minute rest (and i’d give anything to watch Peppa pig over all the things my kids watch now).

My DH used to take them swimming in Saturday mornings. Then lunch then play at the house or in the garden. Sunday we tried to go out for a long walk or to a pub outside London. If none of the above there was always the playground, a play date etc.

Completely with you. When everyone at work is saying 'at least it's the weekend' I think fucking hell work days are my days off

If it's raining (not too hard) get some cheap colourful wellingtons and raincoat (as large as they can cope with) for you as well. Puddles, parks, woods, even ponds, seaside (if you live near) most children will love as long as they are warm underneath. The Scandinavian children play out in all weathers. Try to go out walking/playing every day. Nothing needs to be planned, just don't use a car. Buses can be great fun. Just get out anywhere that doesn't charge for entry.

Put a post up on your local fb group saying any mums with 1&3yr want to meet up

are you friendly with any preschool mums

go to the local park and chat to anyone there with kids

def harder to fill weekends as a single mum as many friends are with their family /dh

What do you all like doing!? Can you get them into a football club, go swimming, find a nice walk, cook something together..... I am not judging, I just think it's sad to feel that way when it's supposed to be treasured time off as a family. I think look at finding some joy together, there must be something. Don't worry about other people's views either - if you find joy having a cup of tea in bed whilst they watch 10 episodes of paw patrol and eat rice crispies from the box then so be it!!

What will your toddler eat on picnics ?

doesn’t have to be sarnies. Mini blondes will eat them but much prefers on a picnic

pesto pasta
chicken nuggets
cold pizza
cheese and crackers
cold sausages

How do you usually get to places? I'm a big fan of using the journey to string it out a bit more. Kids probably won't spend more than 2 hours at a museum/park but if you get a bus there and back with a bit of a walk either side, you can easily make it a half day activity. Then back for lunch and something similar in the afternoon. Or set out a bit later, pad the day with lunch out and it's nearly dinner time by the time you get home.

I think you have to lean in to what works for you though. My DH loves hanging around in shops looking at stuff. He would happily do a trip to IKEA or a camping store, or looking at the toy aisle in the big supermarket. But this drives me mad. I absolutely hate it. So I leave it to him and don't do it.

He on the other hand can't understand why I would want to spend 25 minutes sauntering to a park while the 3yo footles around on his bike rather than just driving in 5 minutes. And I'm thinking of the 40 minutes extra to kill if I took the car!

Totally with you. And so glad so many others are! I think the weather makes it really hard. I was never that bothered by it until I had kids -
if it rained all day I’d just do a cosy day watching reality tv and reading.

i watch tv shows set in California wistfully - you’re just out all the time eg a walk in the sun is just lovely and free. Makes me wants to
move there - then I think America is terrible so no. 😂

Of course your 2 Yr old is different to everyone else's.

Sorry.

For me the main issue would be the lack of adult company. It can be quite lonely having DC for hours and hours on your own. You said friends tend to be busy doing their own thing - do you have grandparents or siblings (ideally ones with DC!) to visit or meet up with sometimes?

If the weekends really drag then I'd be inclined to sign them up for some regular activities (sports, music, art classes etc). Ideally joint ones, but if not then ones where the 2 year old can watch and potter fairly easily. At least it would give some structure and a bit of company and stop the "what now?!" feeling. Before you know it DC1 will be into the whirl of reception birthday parties, and half your weekends will be filled up anyway. Even if it's not exactly what you'd choose to do, it's always easier to get some quieter pottering time at home when you've all been out and about first.

Pre-school years are tough. We were lucky, we live near Beamish museum so got annual passes and anytime we needed to blow away the cobwebs we headed there, took a picnic, rode round on the tram.

As she got a bit older we were also able to benefit from cheap English Heritage membership through a scheme at work so we did that, payments and free entry to loads of places, a lot of the bigger sites have extra bits on for kids in the school holidays as well.

We are also not too far from a few beaches and parks. Again both suitable to take a picnic.

Are you near Chatsworth? Season pass is your friend if so. Farm, playground, walk in the park to see the Deer, jobs a good un. Or Matlock bath?

mine are 19 and 20 now and I was thinking sadly about how I miss them being little earlier. Then I remembered days that felt so long that I would plan them by the hour to get through them, and how I would panic if my planned thing didn’t fill the whole time because it was so hard to entertain them and not die of boredom myself. I also remember standing in the park pushing the swings for hours on end and wishing I was anywhere else.
The days were long and the years were short, as the saying goes.

I don’t know why people keep giving you suggestions if I’m honest! It’s pretty clear you wanted to just vent.

Some people are made for these ages some are made for the older years.

I would do half a day each out with the kids and the other person gets half a day to themselves, it’s a sanity saver when they are young and you’ll both appreciate it.

She’s a single parent

We do swimming lessons on Sat mornings. I work full time so we can’t do them during the week and they are not optional in my house, they need to learn to swim and be safe in water. It does cost but it’s a fixed price that we budget for. With the added bonus it gives us focus and something to do without extra unexpected costs. Then we normally do a park or do gardening at home the rest of the day. And church and food shopping on Sundays to keep them occupied. Mine would be feral if I tried to stay home and have no plans.

I dread them so much more now I have teens Entertaining young kids felt hard at the time especially in bad weather but my god trying to entertain teenagers is so difficult and expensive. I miss the days where a walk on the beach or at the park was enough or <£20 for a few hours at the soft play.

Recently I looked after a very sweet 5 yo for one hour.

I swear to god it was like time had stopped still and was no longer passing. Not necessarily in an entirely awful way, but apparently it is a real thing.

When you look after small children you have to be absolutely in the moment, and not
going along on automatic pilot like we adults do most of the time. It puts you onto their version of time whilst you’re with them. So you remember how time did go a lot more
slowly when you were a kid - it’s that! So I guess if you want your life to feel longer, spend it all with small children 😬😬

They’re at a difficult age. There is a lot of tips online. I remember freezing little toys in empty ice cream cartons overnight, let them hack at it for hours. Freeze a balloon full over water. Get them out in a nature walk, chill in the afternoon. The weather is getting better.
Some children hate staying in all day, others like it. There is no point planning a tv day if they’ll be bouncing off the wall.
I do understand though, even free walk or park trip can cost extra money, it’s very tough for people.

tv or ipad is your best friend sometimes, especially if you need to do some housework or have a shower

as for the rest, all kids like going to playgrounds.....why don't you just go there?
Mine is 12 and still loves it and we go to one village playground which noone uses, sometimes a family with an adult SEN guy come, but we don't meet them very often

Not for a toddler. Some yes, my DS had no interest in looking at the tv as a toddler. He preferred bouncing off the furniture and crying if kept indoors.

Derbyshire is full of National Trust places, plus Chatsworth and lovely walks, playgrounds and villages in the Peak District. Take a big picnic and go to a different NT property every weekend and let the DC play in the grounds.

My two watched TV on Saturday morning at that age while we had coffee. They also played the two of them a lot, but I think we were luck on this (slightly bigger cage gap to yours).